Book of the Month - May 2016

[Keith]

Last month, Divinity II #1 beat Wrath of the Eternal Warrior #6 by 1 vote to win March.

Which book was the best for May?

Feel free to rank this month's books in your post.

You are allowed two votes, so ring in your top 2 books this month. This should help determine which books were best.

[agent_graves]

Divinity II #2... Yup, every month.
Imperium #16... Darpan & Orchid, Nuff Said!!
RAI #13 (4001 AD)
4001 AD #1
Ninjak #15
Wrath of the Eternal Warrior #7
X-O Manowar 2016 Annual
4001 AD: X-O Manowar #1
Bloodshot Reborn #13...

[JCP]

If I could have voted for Divinity II #2 twice I would have.

[grendeljd]

1] Imperium #16 - A slightly abrupt end to this title, but epic themes prevail. Loved it. Can't wait to see what the next chapter of this will be, Joshua Dysart has been dropping some vague hints about something yet to come on Facebook.

2] Eternal Warrior #7 - really great issue, really loved all the setup characterization of the Sovereign.

3] Divinity II #2 - Mishka takes on Abram, wow!!

4] Bloodshot Reborn #13 - a grand finale to this epic story arc. Some were disappointed by the end reveal, but I wasn't!

5] RAI #13 - stunning CAFU art, and a cool origin story for the first Rai.

6]Adv. of Archer & Armstrong #3 - another fun romp, characterization continues to improve & I really liked Bacchus in this issue.

7] 4001 AD #1 - good start to the story, but kind of a light read without any major depth to it.

8] XO Manowar Annual 2016 - solid pack of various stories, very enjoyable.

9] 4001 AD: X-O Manowar #1 - good one shot tale, but not quite what I was hoping for out of this one.

10] Ninjak #15 - bland predictable issue, too much of a drawn out story about Roku messing with Ninjak without getting to the point of revealing that.

[agent_graves]

If I could have voted for Divinity II #2 twice I would have.

+1

[Psiot X]

The Divinity comics have been something special, from the first issue until now. At some point latter, maybe after Divinity III... Will we look back on this series for Valiant in the way others consider Watchmen for DC for example? IE... the company at its best.

[Ricomortis]

The Divinity comics have been something special, from the first issue until now. At some point latter, maybe after Divinity III... Will we look back on this series for Valiant in the way others consider Watchmen for DC for example? IE... the company at its best.

Not at its best... There is BETTER to come... I make that bet.. Right here... Right now.

But I do know what you mean. I think we will look back and compare some of these to some of the great stories. I remember readying Sandman and being intrigued but not like I am on some of this VEI stuff. We all know how Sandman is rated.

I think the time will come...

[Keith]

Ah crap... I forgot Rai #13 in the poll. Oops...

[Sheikhaljabal]

Good month; Divinity 2 and 4001 AD 1 for me (Eternal Warrior 7 and Imperium 16 are also worthy of mention)

[grendeljd]

Ah crap... I forgot Rai #13 in the poll. Oops...

Dangit - I thought there was something missing! I'll patch that into my post now

[agent_graves]

Ah crap... I forgot Rai #13 in the poll. Oops...

I felt like something was missing, but my memory was cloudy. In hindsight, Rai #13, probably would of got my other vote over Imperium, just off CAFU's art alone.

[ShadowTuga]

Divinity II #2 and Rai #13 were both outstanding. The rest was great too, but these 2 issues get my vote.

[mateo107]

I would've voted for Rai #13 but it wasn't in the poll.

[Keith]

I can add Rai in, but it will erase the previous votes and everyone will need to vote again. Let me know what you guys think about that, and I will make the change later today if agreeable.

[agent_graves]

Eh, that's a tough call. That could ultimately, alter (what would have been, considering the tally at this point) the final results.

[jeremycoe]

Leave it out and it alters the results, too.

[OhioValiantNut]

I went with Divinity II #2 ... juxtaposed to my response to Divinity, I like the pace and characterizations in this offering. The second issue offers a good story and is a total package in my opinion.

Normally I might I have chosen Bloodshot Reborn ... and while I love that series, the last issue was too "Who Shot JR"-ish for me and was kind of a let down ... okay, a big letdown ... alas ...

[Keith]

I think I'll just ask that anyone wanting to add a vote/switch a vote to Rai mention it in a post, and I will do my best to keep track.

[Dallow Spicer1]

I thought this was an excellent month overall for the books, 4001ad event looks very promising too!

Top of the shop....

1) Divinity II #2
2) Eternal Warrior #7 (Vditti taking EW to another level!)
3) Bloodshot #13 (minor disappointment it was unplanted memory but still a great read)

Very strong books....

4) Rai #13
5) Imperium #16
6) XO Manowar annual #1
7) 4001ad #1

Decent reads....
8) XO Manowar 4001ad #1
9) Ninjak #15 (even though at 9 I still enjoyed this book.....minus the 'K' on Kings t-shirt

Just not for me....

10) A&A #3 (I hope this book is a success as the writer sounds like a really good fella, think my main issue is the art, too cartoony for me).

[SwiftMann]

Turns out May's releases were a rough one for me. Probably didn't help that Kind-T wrote four of the books this month. But, really, I think some (most?) of that is coming from VEI being far better at hype and expectation setting than they are at actual comic book execution. I'm struggling with 4001 AD. It seems like a mishmash of ideas thrown into random issues and titles without a ton of thought about the impact to cohesive storytelling and coherent publishing choices.

Bloodshot Reborn #13 - No complaints here about the reveal. Always had to be something along those lines. And Larosa's art remains absolutely gorgeous.

Divinity II #2 - This read very quickly. Really, too quickly. I dug a lot of the scenes and moments, but I wish it had a bit more depth.

4001 AD X-O - I dug this issue. It was an insanely quick read, but I enjoyed the X-O mecha backstory and loved Clayton Henry's art, especially the stress/disappointment/regret of the U.S. pilot.

Wrath of the Eternal Warrior #7 - The art was AWESOME. The story left me a bit flat. Mostly, I don't understand the progression of the first arc to this with the Ryp-drawn arc in between. And, really, this whole Labyrinth story feels like something that should be a random arc two years down the road, not something in the first year of a title that hasn't even been given a chance to find its voice.

X-O Annual - Totally readable, but also completely skipable. Still, light years better than the Bloodshot annual.

Rai #13 - This issue was fine. It would have been a nice filler issue (or doing the history of Rais by different artists in between Crain arcs would have been cool). As a tie-in to 4001 AD, it falls completely flat, along with the main title.

A&A #3 - I'm so conflicted on this book. Some scenes and dialogue I dig, some wear me out. Some of the art is fun, some becomes a massive distraction (what is going on with Archer's nose). Some in-story character development is surprisingly deep, all flashback character development attempts are annoying.

4001 AD #1 - This wasn't the kick-off issue of an "Event" series, it was Rai #13. I did get a kick out of the not-Turok scene, but was worn out by dragon Transformer New Japan. 29 pages to forward a single plot point means a lot of unnecessary noise. Again, nothing about this is an "Event" worthy of a mini-series and one-shots. It's just an expanded version of what Rai #13 should have been. Meh.

Imperium #16 - I guess it only makes sense that the final issue would be as boring, plot-stalling and naval gazing as the rest of the series. And as infuriatingly pointless.

Ninjak #15 - The "K" t-shirt is amazingly obnoxious and incredibly stupid of him to wear. There are two straight-up typos in the book and one questionable sentence making me wonder if anyone is really editing. The entire Roku/Wolf sequence was overlong and mostly unnecessary. Khoi Pham's art on the back-up story was shockingly awful and that story is so piecemeal, I have no idea who these people are at this point and zero interest in what's going on.

[depluto]

Sooo many good books this time. I just wish Imperium 16 had been 10 times as long; it felt like an epic.